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Abstract

An optical system modifies the optical orientation of the individual sources of a laser diode array so that the illumination provided by said individual sources may be combined into a single target location, while providing illumination at said target with the brightness of the individual sources. A first set of uniformly-spaced parallel light beams, said parallel beams defining a horizontal plane, is repositioned into a second set of uniformly-spaced parallel light beams, also defining a second horizontal plane but propagating in a direction perpendicular to the original light beams, with said second horizontal plane offset from said first horizontal plane, while the relative orientation of the high-brightness and low-brightness axes of said light beams with respect to the horizontal is interchanged. Three transformers are used to accomplish this reorientation. The first of said transformers consists of a series of flat mirrors, placed parallel to each other and angularly oriented such that the optical beam from each of said sources is deflected into a angle determined by the relative position of said sources. The second transformer consists of a Fourier transform lens which projects a Fourier transformation of the angular and spatial distribution of light beams created by said first transformer, onto a third transformer. The third transformer consists of a mirrored optical device which can be made substantially identical to said first transformer, and which removes the angular displacement of said linearly-dispersed optical beams induced by said Fourier transform lens, resulting in a series of parallel light beams dispersed horizontally, with the high-brightness axis of the elliptical intensity profile of each said beam aligned coaxially. This distribution of light beams may then be focused into an optical fiber, laser gain medium or other device requiring the brightness-conserving coupling of individual optical sources into a single target location.

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